Work In Progress

This year I want to try to link up with Work In Progress Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced.

So, I guess, that is one goal for 2013.

Right now I am working on my Sampler Quilt from the Girls' Club (circa 1999 or so).

I have the blocks on my design wall and I just have to figure out how to put them together into a quilt top.  My initial goal was to use only that pink fabric and the blue-and-flowers striped fabric that you see predominantly in the squares.  I then allowed myself to add white I had in my stash and other pinks and blues from my stash as needed.

I bought the pink fabric when our MJDesigns here in town went out of business.  They were selling the fabric for $2 a yard - which was a great deal.  I figured there was about 10 yards on the bolt.  I told the little girl I wanted it all - and she started measuring it.  Well, she lost count of the yards and she was wrestling with the bolt.  After about 5 yards she let out this big sigh of frustration and said something like: "You can have it all for $10".

SOLD!!

And 13+ years later I still have this project going.

Every time I look at it I just smile - because I really like those colors together.. and because I had a handful of Junior High and High School Girls who were sewing along with me at the time.  One of the girls just sent me this picture of HER sampler quilt that she says she uses on her bed.  She did such a great job!!

Just to add a few pictures:

Here is the advent calendar I sent to my youngest at college.  

And here are some tiny Gingerbread houses I made:

They sit on the edge of your mug.

My sister-in-law and I are making more tomorrow.  They were so fun!

If you are visiting from Freshly Pieced (or somewhere else!)  Check out some of my previous posts or tabs to see more fun projects!

Happy New Year!

CathyH

2013 Goals

I went to find my Notebook of Projects.  The one where I listed
all the past projects I've completed,
all the projects I have cut out,
all the projects my Mom started and left me, and
all the fabrics that have projects calling my name.

I cannot find The Notebook.

Goal #1 for 2013

FIND MY LIST OF GOALS!

CathyH

Satisfied with Progress

(Sigh)
Finish is a relative term - I have decided to be satisfied with PROGRESS.  Little steps towards Finishing will just make me happy.

I finished three more paper pieced people for my 1999 (or earlier) sampler quilt.
This is a 12" block.

And I started sewing the I Spy hexagons together with the yellow equilateral triangles.

And - Christmas is coming!!

We had a Ladies' Christmas Tea at church last night.

I decorated one of the tables with our Peanuts 

(Charlie Brown, Snoopy & Company) decorations.

It just makes me smile.

I love it when Linus says - 

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this [shall be] a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

That's what Christmas is all about.
CathyH

A Glimpse

I have been working on projects.
Really, I have!

But the two BIG projects are gifts. . . and I will post about them LATER.

Sunday, however I finished a small part of my November UFO.

This is part of a block I designed for my Girls' Quilting and Reading Club in 1999.  It is 6"x 6" and will be a part of a 12" block. We were learning about paper piecing...



It is also a part of the Sampler Quilt all the girls and I were supposed to create during those two wonderful years.  What we really created was. . . more UFO's!!



More later.
This was Just a Glimpse.

CathyH

Twelve Years Later - Great Memories

In 1999 I hosted a Girls' Quilting Club.  My daughter and a few of her friends met once a month and we learned how to make patched blocks with the hope of eventually making a quilt.  Since I liked to quilt, I figured it was an important part of a homeschool curriculum.  I don't know if these girls actually like quilting, but this picture bears witness that we had a lot of fun when we were together.

For my birthday that school year, the girls each made me a Pinwheel Block.  Some of their moms even made me a block!  They chose a Green and Burgundy color scheme that coordinated with the bedspread on my bed at the time.

Did I mention that it was in 1999?

So, their blocks sat in a box for the last 12 years.  Most of the blocks had a sticky note on it with the name of the block's maker so that I had some idea who had made these blocks.

This year I have attempted to complete a bunch of Un-Finished Objects (UFO's) and in August this was the project I was supposed to finish.  So I started moving the blocks around on my design wall.

I took one pinwheel apart, added a couple more triangles to it, and used it on the sides.

I added a couple of my own pinwheels and a burgundy frame.

I added another burgundy frame and finished it with a burgundy edge.  You can read about the second frame at this blogpost.  

I added a little bit of hand quilting.

I quilted some pinwheels in the border.

And all the while I thought about these sweet girls who came to the Quilting Club.  I prayed for them and the places they were now.  I thought about the changes in their lives that have occurred over the past 12 years.  And now I have a quilt in front of me to remind me of each of them, to remind me to pray for them and to remind me to thank the Lord for the time we had together so many years ago.

A treasure trove of memories.

Pieced together over the years.

On my lap and in my heart.

You girls are all very special to me.

CathyH

I Love Red and White!!

I am FINISHED!!!!

Last December I received 13 Red and White blocks from our Seams Like Sisters Bee.
They are BEAUTIFUL!!
They are all in a quilt and
In a FINISHED quilt.

This quilt was so much fun to make!!   And it was a great stash-buster.  I used scraps of red prints that I had in my stash and scraps of batting and some white-on-white yardage that I had.  I even had red thread.  The reds I had were so similar that you almost cannot tell that there are 5 or 6 different red prints used to surround the pieced blocks I received.

An earlier post described how I made the quarter-square-triangle blocks that are in between the pieced blocks.

 I used a Quilt-as-you-go method.  I even tried some free-motion quilting on three of the blocks.  The triangles just called for straight-line quilting, though.

Maybe the most amazing thing about the quilt is the back.  I added a white Ohio Star amidst the variety of red fabrics.  THEN, when I hung in to take a photo... well ... you can see faintly see the blocks from the front of the quilt.  I LOVE this quilt!!!

I look forward to using this quilt at

Christmas.

And Valentine's Day.

And Memorial Day.

And the Fourth of July.

And Labor Day.

And anytime I want to feel loved!

Thanks, so much to Kelly, Holly, Linda, Renee, Sandy, Susan, Judy, Carla, Diane, Kathi, Priscilla, and Shirley.  You ladies just Seem Like Sisters to me!!

CathyH

August UFO - Almost Not Unfinished

I will catch up.  I will catch up.

I am almost ALMOST finished with my August Un Finished Object.

These blocks are a set of pinwheels made for me by a group of high school girls in 2001 or 2002.  They each secretly made me a pinwheel for my birthday using Green and Burgundy.

 I have their names on sticky notes. When the quilt is finished I will label the blocks with their names and find them on facebook.  I think it will bring back memories for them.  It was a joy to me to remember our time together and their effort at surprising me on my birthday that year.

I added two pinwheels and a burgundy frame, but did not feel it was done.

 It needed a little bit more - maybe leaving it on point and another burgundy square like this --->

Since I teach Geometry (etc.) I was sure there was an easy way to create that outer frame.  This is what I did:

I measured the first burgundy square - turns out it was a perfect 36" long.

I started with a background square that was 1/3 that length (12").

Framed it with burgundy.

And framed it with enough of the background fabric so the 

diagonal was a few inches more that 36".

I made two of these:

I cut them across the diagonal:

And I put one pair of triangles on the left:

And another pair of triangles on the right:

Now I need to sandwich the quilt. When I received these squares, my bedroom was decorated in burgundy and green.  I have saved the curtains and will use that as the back of the quilt.

(Sigh)
What great memories!
Close to finished on this UFO.


I'm linking up with Patchwork Times 2012 UFO Challenge.

Check out the other Finishes!!



CathyH

Box of Surprises - Box #4

In a continuing series of posts - I want to show you what I found in the box at the BOTTOM of my closet.  The colors and fabrics, by themselves, will date this project.

Earth Tones.
Especially Rust.
Polyester batting.
Quilt as you go log cabin.

Excessive calicos in rusts, browns and mustard.

This is a UFO that my daughter inherited from Quilt Chat in the 1990's.  I am confident it was started in the 1980's.

It actually has 20 blocks sewn together into rows. It is close to done.
And would be nearly a vintage quilt by the time it is finished!!

The most shocking and surprising (and pleasing) find in this box is this:


An original copy of the directions for the Fancy Box - and a good supply of the materials needed to make a Fancy Box.

My friend in the Quilt Chat had translated the directions from Japanese and created this lovely document.  (This is what tutorials used to look like)

There were even newspaper strips cut for the next box.  Notice the date on the newspaper:

Pre-cut foam board for the Fancy Box

The Fray Check was - well - past the expiration date...

Sigh. 

I have other boxes. 

I wonder what is in THEM!?

CathyH

Setting Squares for the Red and White

While I work on hand stitching the back of my Red and White Quilt as I go, I thought I would show how I made the Quarter Square triangle squares I used in the quilt.

I have used this method before, on a smaller scale, to make parts of Ohio Star blocks.  I thought it would work well to make the 12 inch squares to go between my pieced blocks.

Step 1.  I added 2 inches to the size block I need finished, at the end.  Since I wanted the blocks to be 12 inches when finished, I cut out 14 inch blocks.  Here you see one red and one white.  I drew a diagonal line across the squares, put them right sides together, and sewed 1/4 inch from BOTH SIDES of the line.

Step 1

Step 2. Cut on the diagonal.

Step 2

Step 3. You now have 2 squares that are made of two triangles - one red and one white.  Iron the seam allowances towards the red.

Step 3

4. Draw the diagonal on the wrong side of one of the blocks.  This should be the diagonal that crosses both colors. 

(GEOMETRY TEACHER ALERT!  Since a square is a rhombus, this diagonal will be perpendicular to the other diagonal - the seam you have already sewn.  Since a square is also a rectangle, the diagonals will be the same length.)

Step 4

Step 5.  (You can just barely see the line I drew in this picture on the white fabric)  Line up the squares with right sides together and opposite colors facing each other.  The red will touch the white.  You can FEEL that the seams line up since the seam allowances are ironed toward the red.

Step 5

Step 6.  Sew 1/4 inch from the diagonal you drew on each side of the diagonal.

Step 6

Step 7.  Cut through the diagonal.

Step 7

Step 8. TA DA!!!  You have two 13+ inch squares that are made of quarter square triangles!!  These are easily trimmed to the correct size.

Step 8

Since I used these in a Quilt-as-I-go method, I actually left them BIG and will cut them down later.  It gives me some fudge room as a quilt.  You might also be able to see that I used two different reds in this square.  After Step 3, I switched some of my squares around so different reds would be next to each other.

Here is a picture of the quilt when it was on my design wall.  (Yes, I know there is one setting square in the wrong position)  I have, since, pieced them all together and added a border.  I am currently hand finishing the seams on the back squares and should be done soon.  Then I will add a little more quilting in the borders, add the binding and be DONE....

...Done with my July project!!  And Done with Red.  I have used up most of my red stash in this project.  YEAH!!!

Stay tuned, however, because I hope to catch up and also finish my August project in August!!

Oh.. I am seeing red.

And white.

CathyH